The South African Independent Electoral Commission has announced that national elections will occur on a Wednesday between May 7 and the end of the month in 2019. The three leading parties will be the governing African National Congress (ANC), led by current state President Cyril Ramaphosa; the official opposition Democratic Alliance (DA), led by Mmusi Maimane; and the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF), led by Julius Malema.

Corruption has become a burning political issue in South Africa, particularly in the final years of Jacob Zuma’s abridged term in office. The faces of South Africa's Zuma-linked corruption were the three Gupta brothers: Ajay, Atul, and Rajesh.

On October 9, President Cyril Ramaphosa accepted the resignation of Nhlanhla Nene as finance minister. Critics are accusing Nene of lying about the frequency of his contacts with the notorious Gupta family, which is now being investigated for “state capture.”

During the nine years that Jacob Zuma led the party and was chief of state, portions of the ANC increasingly came to resemble a criminal conspiracy. In some ways, the current round of killings resembles a feud among Mafiosi.